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Thursday, January 17, 2013

SensatioNail: At Home Gel Manicure Review

First things first: Yesterday I announced that I had hit 100 Followers, while still shocked that more people than just my mom want to read my blog, I want to make sure that I say a big fat giant THANK YOU to everyone who comes and visits this little corner of the internet. I've "met" some great people from Blogging and I am so happy that I made the decision to start this blog a couple years ago. I have been talking to a couple other bloggers about setting up a sweet giveaway to say thank you!

I'm not quite sure what to provide for my piece, but I want to make sure it is something YOU want. So at the top right of the blog, I put a poll, take a second and vote for what you would like to win. I'll take the highest voted one and that will be my part. Also, if you want to get in on the giveaway (or know someone who might) leave me a comment or send me an e-mail (downatfragglerock13@gmail.com)! Thanks!!!

Now... after lots of searching, editing, and fanagaling ( I am somehow posting my pictures from Picasa. Thanks to Blogger still being a beast, I can't upload pictures. And I FINALLY got Firefox to work and now it won't load any webpages. Awesome. So, somebody fix this please, because I wanted to set up Wedding Recaps too and I can't. ->Anyway...

When preparing for the wedding, I knew that I wanted nice, long nails. But, I knew that I got sick of the fake ones quickly. They got dirty, I couldn't clean under my nails to my OCD specifications, and when I eventually ripped them off, my nails sucked.

So, Ma Dukes and I looked into the gel manicures and quickly fell in love.

They made my nails stronger, so they grew, and they felt REAL. Not fake and thick and gross.

But you know who didn't love the gel manicures? My wallet.

So, when I heard about the at-home gel manicure kit, I was intrigued. But didn't want to pay the $50 start-up cost. I read a review from another Blogger and decided that I at least needed to try it, but never pulled the trigger.

Thankfully, "Santa" listens to me and I got it for Christmas. I got the kit, which is in the bottom left hand corner of the collage below. My color was a pink one. Although "Santa" got me a pretty sparkly blue one too.Top left: The standard colors it comes in. Top Right: New magnetic polish you can buy. Bottom Left: Starter kit. Bottom Right: Um... need to find this. ASAP. I loves me some glitter!

Anywho, I waited until the craziness of Christmas calmed down and then tried it out. My first reaction:
1. It was hard to keep it neat. They mean it when they say make sure you get all the polish off your skin before you cure it.
2: It made my nails nice and strong though.

But, I liked it. So about a week and a half later, I used my CVS Extra Bucks to buy a new color. I also spent the money to get the removal tool. I highly recommend it.

Removing sucked. I had to do one hand at a time, which made me impatient. And it was hard to get it off, I had to soak each finger a couple times. However, I learned that I was supposed to "buff" the sides with a nail file before I soaked them, so it is probably my own fault that it sucked so much. Also, it was hard to get it off my right hand, since I'm right-handed, but I think it will improve with experience.

Left: First color. First time. A little messy. Middle: Soaking/Removing the blue. Right: New color

All in all. I love it. I mean it is a PROCESS to put it on and take it off. But it is a hell of a lot better than using normal nail polish, which is still a pain to put on and take off, but only lasts a day or so before it chips (Or if you're like me, like 20 seconds haha).

It's a large upfront cost: about $50 for the start-up kit, and it is about $10-$12 for a new color. However, if you go and get your nails done it is $40 a pop. And each kit/color has enough for ten applications. I have 3 colors so that's 30 applications for $74 (well Santa paid for most of it! haha) and that would cost me $1200 for the salon (woah big savings).

AND... they are easy to find. Everyone has them. Target, CVS, you can buy them online. It's awesome.

So that's my review. Not exactly the most intriguing review, but it is a great product.

And for the record, no one paid me or supplied me with anything to write this. I just like to pass on a good thing when I find it. I tried it based off a blog review, so I figured maybe I could help someone find something cool too!